Ritual versus science

BY CHRISTOPHER L. GUEST, OTTAWA CITIZEN JULY 27, 2012

Re: European rabbis to fight moves to ban circumcision, July 26.

German courts should be commended for their efforts to ban religious circumcision.

Most circumcising cultures, either religious or secular, are sadly ignorant of the sexual and mechanical function of the human prepuce. The prepuce is richly innervated, erogenous tissue, containing thousands of sensory neuroreceptors, such as Meissner’s corpuscles. Many of the most sensitive regions of the penis are located along the inner prepuce and are needlessly amputated by circumcision.

The prepuce also acts as a linear bearing mechanism, providing a unique gliding motion during sexual intercourse. Ritualized removal of normal, healthy genital tissue from powerless infants is medically unethical and Canadian physicians should refuse to participate in this disgraceful practice.

Bronze-age religious blood rituals must never trump rational scientific judgment, contemporary medical ethics and the fundamental human right to bodily integrity.

Christopher L. Guest, MD, Shanty Bay, Barrie

Children’s Health & Human Rights Partnership

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